[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 222 (Wednesday, November 18, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 64006-64007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-30794]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 971015246-7293-02; I.D. 110998G]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder 
Fishery; Commercial Quota Harvested for Maryland

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Commercial quota harvest.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the summer flounder commercial quota 
available to the State of Maryland has been harvested. Vessels issued a 
commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may 
not land summer flounder in Maryland for the remainder of calendar year 
1998, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. 
Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication 
of this notification

[[Page 64007]]

to advise the State of Maryland that the quota has been harvested and 
to advise vessel permit holders and dealer permit holders that no 
commercial quota is available for landing summer flounder in Maryland.

DATES: Effective 0001 hours November 13, 1998, through December 31, 
1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul H. Jones, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 281-9273.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations governing the summer flounder 
fishery are found at 50 CFR part 648. The regulations require annual 
specification of a commercial quota that is apportioned among the 
coastal states from North Carolina through Maine. The process to set 
the annual commercial quota and the percent allocated to each state are 
described in Sec. 648.100.
    The initial total commercial quota for summer flounder for the 1998 
calendar year was set equal to 11,105,636 lb (5,037,432 kg) (62 FR 
66304, December 18, 1997). The percent allocated to vessels landing 
summer flounder in Maryland is 2.03910 percent, or 226,570 lb (102,770 
kg).
    Section 648.100(e)(4) stipulates that any overages of commercial 
quota landed in any state be deducted from that state's annual quota 
for the following year. In the calendar year 1997, a total of 214,948 
lb (97,499 kg) were landed in Maryland, creating a 26,694 lb (12,108 
kg) overage that was deducted from the amount allocated for landings in 
the state during 1998 (63 FR 23227, April 28, 1998). The resulting 
quota for Maryland was 199,876 lb (90,662 kg).
    Section 648.101(b) requires the Administrator, Northeast Region, 
NMFS (Regional Administrator), to monitor state commercial quotas and 
to determine when a state's commercial quota is harvested. The Regional 
Administrator is further required to publish a notice in the Federal 
Register advising a state and notifying Federal vessel and dealer 
permit holders that, effective upon a specific date, the state's 
commercial quota has been harvested and no commercial quota is 
available for landing summer flounder in that state. The Regional 
Administrator has determined, based upon dealer reports and other 
available information, that the State of Maryland has attained its 
quota for 1998.
    The regulations at Sec. 648.4(b) provide that Federal permit 
holders agree as a condition of the permit not to land summer flounder 
in any state that the Regional Administrator has determined no longer 
has commercial quota available. Therefore, effective 0001 hours 
November 13, 1998, further landings of summer flounder in Maryland by 
vessels holding commercial Federal fisheries permits are prohibited for 
the remainder of the 1998 calendar year, unless additional quota 
becomes available through a transfer and is announced in the Federal 
Register. Effective November 13, 1998, federally permitted dealers are 
also advised that they may not purchase summer flounder from federally 
permitted vessels that land in Maryland for the remainder of the 
calendar year, or until additional quota becomes available through a 
transfer.

Classification

    This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from 
review under E.O. 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: November 12, 1998.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 98-30794 Filed 11-13-98; 11:42 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F